Elements
by phawx
Summary: The trio enter their fifth year at Hogwarts. Life takes a turn as Voldemort is slowly regaining power. Will they be able to protect themselves with the new magic they learn from Denfence Against the Dark Arts class?


(The universe I'm writing in and the characters used are the intellectual property of JK Rowling. I was just having a bit of fun at their expense. MAGIC-SMOOTH and Alex belong to… meh, why not… me. Elemental spells originated from a good old fashioned Super Nintendo® game, _Secret of Mana_.)

**Chapter 1 – The Newspaper Article**

The Newspaper Article 

Harry walked around Diagon Alley, in search of a presents for Hermione and Ron. Walking by a dress-cloak shop, Harry saw a very nice, silky blue robe in the display window. Remembering what happened to Ron last year, having to cut the sleeves off of his robes right before the Yule Ball, Harry decided to get it for him.

As for Hermione, it was going to be her birthday in a few weeks, and if he were to get anything for her it would have to be now, before they went back into Hogwarts to start their fifth year. He noticed a Salon that he had never seen before opposite the route towards Knockturn Alley, and decided right away what to get his bushy-haired friend. He secretly wondered why Hermione never thought of using it a little bit earlier. Then again, she never really cared about how she looked until very recently..

Upon entry, Harry was swarmed by barbers, trying to offer him a haircut. "I'll tame that messy black hair for you in minutes! Trust me!" said one of the younger barbers, but was promptly pushed away by an older barber. "I can give you the most fashionable haircut in the wizarding community! Even one of the Frontstreet Wizards liked my taste!" 

"Umm, sorry, I'm not here for a haircut. I was wondering if you had any hairspray that could tame messy hair." All the barbers returned to their posts except for one, which Harry assumed to be the owner of the shop. He was an old, plump man who carried a jolly expression on his face.

"Yes! I have just the right product for you," The owner smiled and walked behind the counter, reaching for a green and purple spray can. The words "Magic-Smooth" were written in bright red letters across the can. Harry evaluated it with interest. "I made it. Not only does it soften your hair, it can tame any type of imperfections in hair you can think of. Do you want it to tame your messy hair, son?"

"Uh, no. I'm just buying it for my friend, and she has very bushy hair," Harry explained. Feeling self-conscious about his own messy hair, Harry ran his hand through it. By the time he noticed the action he had made, it was too late. The expression on the man's face showed it all.

"That scar…" the plump man muttered. "You must be Mr. Potter! Hey, Arnold, get over here! Harry Potter's in our shop!" Before Harry knew what was going on, he was spun around and someone had taken a snapshot of him as the two men shook his hands. Harry was blinded momentarily by the powerful flash. "Could you autograph the picture, please?" the shopkeeper requested. "Addressed to Larry and Arnold?"

"Sure," Harry said, mentally booting himself for being such a prat and showing his scar. He wrote '_To Larry and Arnold, nice salon. Harry Potter_' and gave him back the photo. The storeowner beamed at him.

"So how much is it for a bottle?" Harry asked, deliberately diverting his gaze in Arnold's direction, who was giving a little boy a haircut, and trying to ignore Larry's smile. Even after four years of being shoved into the spotlight during the weirdest occasions, he still wasn't used to it.

Larry looked instantly offended at the question. "Why, Mr. Potter, please consider it our gift to you," said Larry as he walked back behind the counter and pulled out a cardboard box with eleven more bottles in it. "Please take this box, and tell us whether the product was effective or not the next time you visit Diagon Alley. Each bottle should last you for a month, so this should last you for exactly one year."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to," Harry sought hard for an excuse to refuse the gift. "I'm getting it for my friend Hermione. Unless she -"

"Oh, no!" Larry exclaimed and slapped himself in the mouth. Everyone in the store fell silent and settled their gaze upon him. "Please, please, PLEASE accept this! My sincere apologies, Mr. Potter!" Larry suddenly looked almost… frightened. Harry was completely puzzled. What was wrong with him?

"Okay, uh, thanks," Harry reluctantly took the box. Larry nodded, with a flushed face and the same frightened expression. Harry thanked Arnold and Larry again on the way out of the shop. He still had problems understanding what was going on though. What made Larry so weird all of a sudden?

Finally, settling down in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Harry relaxed and ordered himself a vanilla strawberry sundae. It felt so good knowing that he wasn't under the Dursleys' custody. Harry was almost sure that Uncle Vernon was even happier than he was to have him out of the house for the day. He had told the Dursleys that he would be out for the day, and he could see the instant relief on Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's face. Sitting under the sun, relaxed and comfortable, he enjoyed his ice cream. It was the perfect kind of weather one would expect at the end of summer.

The night before, Harry had received two owls from his best friends. Both of them asked him to come here and meet them, but at slightly different times. He pulled out the parchments to check for the exact time.

Hermione wrote:

_Dear Harry,_

_I will be back in __London__ tomorrow. I'm currently in __Bulgaria__ visiting Krum; it's been quite fun. Did you get the broom grip I sent you on your birthday? Hope you liked it. Krum chose it for you, he told me it gives you better control and that it's quite essential if you're playing Seeker. I have no idea since I still know nothing about Quidditch. _

_I'm just owling you to confirm that I'll be coming along with you and Ron to get books tomorrow at Diagon Alley. I wish I could have notified Ron, but there were no other available owls. If you can, please tell him for me. I'm getting off the plane at 10, so I'll meet you down at the water fountain in front of the Quidditch supplies store at __11.30 a.m.__._

Love from Hermione 

As for Ron:

_Dear Harry,_

_I finally get to see you for the first time this summer! I'm only coming with Ginny, since Fred and George already got their books last week with Lee. We'll meet you at the ice cream parlor at 10.30 tomorrow. _

_See you then, mate!_

_Ron_

Harry checked the clock inside the ice cream shop. It was 10.15, so Ron would be here soon. Harry folded the letters and stored them away carefully. He then indulged himself in another spoonful of vanilla strawberry ice cream.

As Harry relaxed against the back of his chair, he overheard two wizards sitting on a neighboring table chatting about a news article on _The Daily Prophet_. "Looks like his girlfriend goes to Hogwarts," a skinny wizard in green robes said. Harry paid extra attention as he heard the name of his school.

"Yep, that's what it says here," stated Green-robe's partner, who was a rather muscular wizard in violet robes. Violet-robes put the _Daily Prophet_ on the table and pointed to an article. "She's quite a player. I thought she was Harry Potter's girlfriend! I remember reading an article about that last year. That poor boy must be so hurt by the news."

"Excuse me, but may I take a look at the article?" Harry tapped Violet-robes on the shoulder. With a pretty good idea what this was about, Harry still wanted to see the article.

"Have you been eavesdropping on us? Would you please mind your own busin…" Violet-robes turned around, about to shout at Harry until he noticed the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead. Green-robes' mouth hung open with shock. Violet-robes was left speechless.

"Uh, sure… here you go, son," Green-robes broke the silence and snatched the paper out of Violet-robe's hand, giving it to Harry. Harry took the paper and nodded a thank you to them. Green-robes and Violet-robes stood up and left as quickly as possible, as if Harry would fly into a killing spree after a glimpse at the paper.

He opened up _the Daily Prophet_ on his own table. The Heading of the first article wrote: 

**_Viktor Krum: I met my love at Hogwarts_**

_(Correspondent – Rachel Skeeter) Two months after the end of the TriWizard tournament at Hogwarts, Viktor Krum has returned from __Britain__ to his hometown in __Bulgaria__. The Prophet has had the pleasure to interview Krum this summer. However, prior our arrival in __Bulgaria__, another guest from __Britain__ had also arrived at the Bulgarian Seeker's home as well._

_Hermione Granger, a soon-to-be fifth year at __Hogwarts__School__ of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had been staying as a guest in Krum's home for two weeks prior to our arrival. Our interview with Miss Granger was cut short because she had to take an airplane back to __London__, the Muggle way of traveling overseas. As far as the interview went, she told us that she was asked to go to __Bulgaria__ by Krum himself at the end of last year after she was saved during the second task of the TriWizard tournament. The main challenge of this task was that the contestant had to save the person most important to him or her from the custody of deepwater merpeople. She also claimed that Krum was "a very nice person to be with" and "could be quite an animal at night"._

_ As we interviewed Mr. Krum about his impression of __Britain__, he told us that he liked it there a lot, especially the girls in Hogwarts. He further stated that he would be happy if one day he could go to __Britain__ and work or live there. He also stated that he met the girl of his dreams. _

Harry smiled. _Rita's got a sister!_ At least Rachel's claims were much more subtle than what Rita had written about him and Hermione last year. Harry finally understood why Larry was so frightened when he heard Hermione's name. Though right now, this rumored love triangle was the least of his worries.

Harry was worried about what Ron would think. He remembered the look on Ron's face when he saw Hermione with Krum at the Yule Ball, and the random limb of Krum's miniature model Harry found subsequently. 

Harry checked his watch. 9.30. Ron would show up very soon. As if on cue, two figures with blazing red hair came into plain view around a corner and headed towards the ice cream parlor. Harry quickly stuffed the papers into his pocket before Ron could notice, and stood up swiftly to greet them.

"Hi, Ron," said Harry with an excited expression. Ron's usually pale face was slightly tanned, and though Harry never thought it'd be possible, he had grown taller. 

Towering over Harry, Ron pulled him into a light embrace. "Did you have a good summer, mate?" Ron pulled away and smiled at him. "Have those Muggles been bullying you?"

"They'd been a little bit too busy minding their own business," Harry said, slightly amused at the thought of what was going on back at Privet Drive. "Dudley had tried to run away from home last month after fighting with Uncle Vernon over getting liposuction for health purposes. He didn't last for too long. Ran out in the morning and came back at 3 in the afternoon to catch afternoon tea," he explained with a condemning tone.

"What's liposuction?" a female voice rang up from next to Ron. Harry had completely forgotten about Ginny's existence, in the midst of his excitement in seeing again after a long summer break. Now that she had caught his attention, she was able to keep it.

Too dazed to acknowledge her question, Harry looked to Ginny and said, "Hi, Ginny. You look… great." And she did. Ginny looked… different. Her flaming red hair tied in a ponytail instead of letting it hang loose as always, showing off her freckles… or lack thereof. In contrary to Ron, her skin had paled and the amount of freckles on her face had somehow decreased over the summer.

"Th… th… thanks," Ginny went slightly pink, noticing Harry's fixed gaze.

Ron and Ginny each ordered sundaes for themselves and they started chatting. Ron and Harry caught up on each other's summer. Ron had gone through intensive Quidditch training, administered by Bill who was taking a small vacation off from Gringotts Egypt. Harry sat and listened for most of the time, with none of his own adventures to offer as his relatively uneventful summer did not include any. They then talked about the Joke Shop that Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins, George and Fred, had opened. They've already employed a few people to look after the shop while they were at school and were going to officially take over when they finish school at Hogwarts. Harry wondered whether those employees had any problems with working for a bunch of school children. After a while, Harry glanced at his watch. It was 11.20.

"Oh, Ron, it's time to go meet Hermione at the fountain in front of the Quidditch supplies store," Harry said. Ron and Ginny had just finished the last of their third sundaes.

"Alright, let me go to the washroom first." Ron asked for the bill. His face was slightly flushed, and his earlier animated expression dulled. Harry would bet his Gringotts vault that Ron read the papers this morning.

"I wonder what's wrong with him today," Ginny said to Harry as Ron walked off. "He's in that same odd mood ever since breakfast this morning." Harry was amazed that she didn't stutter when she talked to him. 

"I think this is what he read during breakfast, so go figure," Harry said and pulled out the crumpled papers from his pocket and pointing it to Hermione's article. 

Ginny read it and made some small giggling sounds, while covering her mouth and trying not to laugh out loud. "She said that Krum could be 'quite an animal at night'? What was Hermione doing with him?"

"I don't know, but if what the article said were true, then it wouldn't be anything pleasant," Harry pondered as to whether wizardry law had anything about statutory rape, or whether the law would be administered any differently in Bulgaria. Not wanting to scare his companion with his thoughts, he kept to himself.

"I still don't understand. Why is Ron so mad? Shouldn't he be happy for Hermione?" Ginny looked puzzled. "What kind of a friend is he?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to be her friend?" noting Ginny's furrowed brows, Harry knew additional explanation would be required. "Maybe he doesn't want to JUST be her friend?"

"Oh! OH!! You're saying that Ron's…Hermione…" Ginny stuttered, for once not out of embarrassment but out of excitement. "I can't believe Ron's in love with Hermione!"

"What? I never said that," Harry claimed, with a sly grin on his face. "You did!" It wasn't a particularly funny joke, but the two of them still roared in laughter.

Ginny contemplated the situation. "Does Hermione know that Ron -" She never got to finish. Harry quickly covered her mouth as Ron came from behind Ginny and sat down.

"Harry, why are you molesting my sister?" Ron teased. Harry blushed violently as he took his hand off Ginny's mouth, and the best words he could get out of his mouth were "I… I…" Peeking over his shoulder at the girl, her face was just as pure red.

Ginny, Ron and Harry arrived at the fountain at 10.45. They saw a girl sitting next to the fountain in front of the Quidditch shop, recognizable from a distance with her trademark bushy brown hair.

"Hi Ron! Hi Harry!" shouted Hermione, giving Ron and Harry each a big hug. She seemed much more upbeat than normal. "Ginny? Wow, you sure look different!" Hermione exclaimed and smiled in amazement. "Have you been exercising hard through the summer?" Ginny nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

"So, you must've had a lot of fun with Krum in Bulgaria, didn't you?" asked Ron with a slightly strained smile.

"No, there wasn't much to do there, I just stayed at his place for two weeks and toured the country with him and his friends." Hermione said, not seeming to notice what Ron had up for her. "Bulgaria was fun in general though. You two would've liked it. There were tons of Quidditch supplies shops there. Remember the broom grip Krum got you, Harry? We got it at a market place there."

"Really? I wish I was there too," Ron said, forcing to keep the smile on his face. Hermione didn't seem to notice that Ron was making the extra effort to act happy.

"Why, Ron? Because you missed me so much and wanted to see me?" Hermione asked sweetly. Harry couldn't tell if she was doing it deliberately to test Ron, or if she just asked it as a question in general, but before he could say anything Ron answered, "no, of course not! Why would I? I wouldn't want you to be missing me when I go on vacation."

"Well... I would've missed you terribly..." Hermione said, pouting. She looked abashed and hurt. "I thought you would've known that I wanted you to miss me..."

"Wha…?" Hermione's comment caught Ron completely off guard. He didn't really mean to hurt her or anything. "I… err…I was just kidding! I thought about you every single day… err… no… every minute practically! I really missed you and wished you were with me! "

Hermione's expression suddenly changed from gloomy to happy, and said in an indifferent tone, "Oh really? Doesn't matter, it's not like I thought of you at all," carrying a playfully vengeful grin on her face, "spent all my time with Viktor, didn't have time for you."

"That was HARSH!" Harry exclaimed, feeling very bad for Ron. Hermione braced herself to prevent herself from falling over from laughing too hard. Ginny seemed more reluctant to laugh, knowing the situation, but she made an obvious effort to hold back her smile. Ron stood there, half dazed, trying to think of something to say.

"You tricked me into… into… confes… saying… ah, bloody hell…never mind," Ron muttered under his breath with angry undertones.

Ron walked along with the group as they marched down Diagon Alley, picking up his books, looking at broomsticks. He kept silent along the way and only truly smiled when Harry dragged him over to a display window to admire the new Firebolt II. Hermione was chatting casually with Ginny and Harry. She didn't seem to notice that Ron made no comments at all.

Finally the group had bought all the books needed. They left the alley and went back into the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny and Hermione fell into chairs, completely exhausted. Ron walked over to the fireplace without even casting Hermione a glance.

"We have to go, Ginny," Ron said. "We told mum that we would be back for supper." Without waiting for Ginny's reply, he opened a drawstring bag and tossed some powder into the fire. The fireplace erupted into a brilliant green color. Ron jumped in right away and shouted "The Burrow!" without saying goodbye. Ginny rolled his eyes.

"Sorry about leaving you two, but we don't want to get Mum worried. See you at Kings Cross," Ginny waved at Hermione and Harry and followed the same procedure as her brother.

After the green fire died off, Hermione asked, "Didn't you find Ron acting a bit weird today? I mean, on a normal day if I played a trick on him like that, he'd go mad!"

"Why were you so harsh on him, Hermione? There are some things that I thought you would be smart enough not to joke about!" 

"Harry, be reasonable. The joke was quite obvious."

Harry sighed. Hermione really had no idea how much damage she had just caused. "Did you read the _Prophet_ this morning?"

"No, I just got off –"

"Well, there's a bloody good reason why Ron was acting the way he was," Harry said. He pulled out the crumpled article from his robes and stuffed it into Hermione hand.

"…the plane…" Hermione muttered, unwilling to have her explanation cut off completely. She quickly read it and her eyes shone with a similar type of expression to what Harry saw at the ice cream parlor with Ron.

"You don't believe what the article implies, do you?" Hermione asked desperately. "I said that he was a good person to be FRIENDS with! Skeeter left out the word!" She had more to add. "I never said that he was an animal last night! I said he had the potential to be a party animal, seeing from the celebration festival last night! And…"

"What I do or do not believe doesn't matter," Harry stated casually and cut her off. "The problem is Ron believes it."

"Oh, no…" Hermione mumbled. "Then that means what I said to him… I was joking! He surely would have noticed, wouldn't he?" Hermione pleaded to herself, trying to convince herself over a case that was obviously untrue. Harry shook his head. He knew that Hermione just meant it as a joke, but Hermione had chose the worst time possible for something like this.

"Bad way to start the year," Harry stated, and commented no further over the topic.

Resting Angel

Harry was locked in a room of darkness. No matter which direction he walked in, he could not leave the dim area. Having no idea where he was, Harry suddenly saw a faint white glow shine front behind him. He shot around. In front of him stood a tall figure in a black cloak. The moon shone from behind the man, thereby covering his face in utter darkness. Glowing, snake-like red eyes emerged from under the hood. The creature held out its wand, aiming directly for Harry's head. 

"Finally, Potter," hissed the figure and grinned, showing two rows of sharp shredding teeth like that of a shark. "You are destined to die under my wand, just like your parents." This scene was but too familiar to Harry, as he had seen it in various situations. The person before him was unmistakably Voldemort. 

Harry searched himself for his own wand, it had saved him once by reversing Voldemort's spells, and perhaps it would save him again. He stuck his hand into his wand pocket. He could buy some time and save his life if the two wands connect again if he could find…

Nothing was in his pocket.

Before Harry could look up, Voldemort hissed, "Avada Kedavra!" And a flash of green light blinded Harry. Harry heard a sharp scream of a woman, and then a loud, sickening "thud!". He kept his eyes closed.

Silence. Harry opened his eyes and a woman with ginger hair lay on the ground in front of him. He stared at the body in horror. His eyes were watering. "Mum?" he pleaded weakly. He knew very well that the woman was dead, killed by an irreversible curse. 

His mother's features warped, and the girl lying in front of him was another familiar face. It was Hermione. She turned to him and shouted, "Harry, run!" and pointed her wand at Voldemort. Before Harry could move a muscle, his best friend was killed by another green flash.

"Your mother and your friends are always in the way, Harry Potter," the snake-like creature sneered. "Now on to you." Just as Voldemort pointed his wand to Harry again, Cedric Diggory, the Old Man, Bertha Jorkins, Lily and James Potter all appeared in their ghost-like grey form and held Voldemort. "Run now! Harry!" James shouted. "Return my body to my parents, Harry," Cedric shouted. Harry ran as quickly as his feet could carry him, dodging curses from all directions. Dove onto the ground and grabbed the TriWizard cup and Cedric's wrist. Everything was spinning, and Harry could clearly see a source of light, getting nearer and nearer…

Harry opened his eyes. His heart was racing, he panted and cold sweat condensed all over his forehead. He felt his scar burning slightly. He wiped off his sweat and put on his glasses. Ron was wrapped in his blankets, snoring away peacefully. He was Harry's only roommate this year since professor McGonagall granted them a double room.

_First day of school, _Harry thought, _and Voldemort is already in a bad mood. _Harry knew that it was his scar, and his psychic link to Voldemort that caused his nightmare. He couldn't sleep anymore. He took a look at his clock. The small hand pointed a bit past five and the large at 6.

"Great, it's 5.30 in the morning,"Harry muttered silently to himself. He had been through a lot at the end of last year, including the resurrection of his arch nemesis, the most powerful dark wizard of the magical world. He needed wanted to clear his mind. He suddenly remembered that he had found a secret room on the second floor of the school during one of his Defence Against the Dark Arts spares at the end of the year. He had forgotten to tell Ron and Hermione about it after he had found it, and the room didn't once come across his mind through the whole summer until now. He remembered that the room had an open ceiling, so he could lie there and watch the stars for a while on his own. Perhaps that would help settle his restlessness.

Harry quickly changed and put on his invisible cloak, a swift movement that he had perfected through his years at Hogwarts. Being careful not to wake Ron up, Harry grabbed his school bag so he would not have to Gryffindor tower later that morning. The portrait hole flung open at his slight, gentle push. He silently stepped out.

"Couldn't sleep, dear?" The fat lady yawned with her eyes closed, not knowing nor caring that Harry was invisible. "Yes, just going out for a walk." Harry replied casually and tiptoed his way to the main school. Oddly Filch was nowhere to be seen.

"_Alohomora!_" Harry whispered, pointing his wand to a wall in the corridor on the second floor. The bricks on the wall folded outwards, leaving a long corridor open, with a door at the end of it. To Harry's amazement, there was light coming through the door. _Did someone else know about this secret room?_ He wondered. The wall closed behind him silently, and he slowly crept towards the door and with his invisibility cloak on, pushed the door open slightly. He could hear a girl's sobbing. He quickly noticed the owner of the voice – it was Cho Chang.

Cho was sitting against the wall, with her legs folded against her chest and hugging them with one of her arms, the other hand was busy whipping off the tears on her face. The pale moonlight made her face even whiter than usual. Cho looked great, with her shapely brows so delicately drawn, eyes so deeply dark, but Harry couldn't help but feel a surge of sadness run through his heart, as opposed to his usual pang of excitement. 

Cho Chang looked up into the sky above and started mumbling to herself. _It was my fault, _Harry thought, _I was the one that incurred all this pain on her_. 

"Return my body to my family, Harry." He remembered this request by Cedric very clearly. It was a painful memory months after the incident. Harry suddenly wanted to be near Cho, to let her hit him and blame him for the death of Cedric, to relieve her pain. 

Controlled by his subconscious while he was occupied in thinking, Harry started moving towards her. He unintentionally pushed open the door, making loud screeching noises. Cho jumped and turned around, "Who is it?" she demanded. Harry gasped, but quickly covered his mouth before anything could come out. He reminded himself that he had the invisibility cloak on, so Cho couldn't possibly see him. Even so, Harry didn't dare move an inch. Cho slowly turned back to looking at the sky again, mumbling to herself. This time Harry was close enough to hear what she was saying.

"Oh Cedric. I miss you, I really do." Cho had tears running down her face again. Harry's heart felt like it was under the Cruciatus curse. It was he, the famous Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, who caused all this suffering for Cho. He had as much responsibility for the death of Cedric as Voldemort himself.

Cho sat there sobbing for another little while, and exhausted, she fell asleep. Harry observed the angelic being closely. Lay there asleep, so peacefully, without a care. Yet when she woke up, she would have to face the harsh reality of life, of the fact that Cedric had left her. Forever. 

A strand of soft black hair was covering her face. She stirred and shivered in her sleep, but after a while she stopped moving. It was now clear for Harry to leave. He enchanted the clock in the room so that it would wake Cho up fifteen minutes before the end of breakfast. He took off his invisibility cloak and his jacket hesitantly, and quickly but carefully laid the latter on top of the resting angel. 

"I'm sorry, Cho. I wish I was the one who died," Harry muttered under his breath. He re-cloaked himself under the safety of invisibility and snuck out of the secret room.

Calere

Ron found Harry at breakfast and interrogated him as to where he went so early in the morning. The only detail Harry would give him was the pain from his scar and that he wanted some fresh air. 

After breakfast, the two of them headed for their first class of the year – Defence Against the Dark Arts. Since the mad-eye moody incident last year, they had to switch DADA teachers once again. Professor Dumbledore had announced during the start of year feast that all students will be pleasantly surprised on who their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher is on the first day of class. Harry wondered what type of a surprise they would get this year, moving quickly down the corridor towards the DADA classroom.

Hermione had already arrived and reserved two extra front row seats. Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder before he went to join Hermione. "I don't want to sit in the front row." He walked over and sat in the back row beside Seamus and Lavender. The two sat very close to each other and Seamus had his arms around Lavender's waist. 

Harry occupied the seat on the right of Hermione. "What is WRONG with him?" Hermione said, noticing that Ron had not occupied the seat to her left. She attempted to sound annoyed, but failed under Harry's observant ears. 

After the incident at Diagon Alley, Ron had been avoiding Hermione like a plague. Ron even refused to sit in the same compartment during the trip to school on the Hogwarts Express. He deliberately sat in the front cart, ignoring the fact that Hermione had reserved the back cart for the group. Harry was forced to walk between both compartments multiple times for the whole trip.

"He'll eventually give it up," Harry said. "He won't stand a chance passing his O.W.L.S. without your help!" The joke cheered Hermione up a little, but only enough to make her give a very weak smile.

Within the room, all conversations seemed to revolved around the mysterious new teacher. "I hope it's going to be a handsome young teacher," Parvati who was sitting directly in front of Ron, turned back and said to Lavender.

"As long as it's not some crazy guy like Moody or a useless man like Lockhart again, I won't complain," Seamus said to Dean Thomas who was sitting next to Parvati. They, too, seemed to be a pair now. Otherwise, Parvati would have been sitting unreasonably close to Dean. Noting his surroundings, Ron found that perhaps he would've felt better sitting next to Hermione after all.

Suddenly the door swung open and the whole class was quiet. They were all waiting to see who the new teacher was. 

_You've GOT TO BE kidding me!_

The outcome put Harry in terrible shock. A young girl with shoulder-length long silvery blond hair, and deep blue eyes walked in. Her skin was paler than any girl at Hogwarts. All the boys had their eyes fixed on her. Harry and Ron knew very well who she was.

"'ello, everyvone." Fleur Delacour said with a smile. "I vill be ze Defence Againz ze Dark Arts teacher zis year." _This_, Harry, Hermione and Ron thought at the same time, _is going to be awkward_. 

"Some of you may know me from before," she glanced at Ron, Harry and Hermione, "and some of you soon vill. My name iz Fleur Delacour, alzough I am not much older zan most of you, I would like it if you vould call me professor."

The boys nodded absent-mindedly, seeming to be totally consumed by the quarter-veela's attractiveness. The girls groaned at the fact that the new teacher had drawn away all the male attention from them. 

"Need some help getting your eyeballs back in their sockets?" Lavender shouted angrily at Seamus, who seemed to have completely forgotten where he was. Parvati was slapping Dean Thomas, hoping that it would help him snap out of it.

Hermione turned around quickly to take a peek at Ron. To her dismay, he had the same blank look on his face as the rest of the boys in class and his eyes were fixed on Fleur. She remembered clearly in _Guide to Magical Creatures and Their Special Powers_ page 3020 line 402 say: "people who have already found their true love. Until then will they not be affected by the powerful magic a veela naturally possesses." Obviously, Ron hasn't found his true love yet.

"Zis 'as never been done at a 'ogwarts DADA lesson," Fleur said. "I vill be teaching you elemental magic."

This caught everyone's attention, including the spaced out male students. There was some chattering going on, since not even the students from wizard backgrounds knew what this type of magic was about.

"Does anyone in zis class know ze origin of elemental spells?" Flear asked, looking around the class. Hermione's current state of mind didn't seem to prevent her from being her usual know-it-all self, Harry noted. He felt a gush of air hit his face, caused by a very quick arm shooting up on his right, a few centimetres away from making his glasses go flying. Five consecutive years of sitting next to the top student in his class had taught Harry not to flinch.

Fleur nodded at Hermione, urging her to begin. "Elemental magic is a brand of magic that originated from the African tribe _Ikemoni_. Several hundred years ago, a French wizard had become the apprentice of the head of _Ikemoni_. Before the Frenchmen could teach anyone, he died of some unknown disease and the tribe was also destroyed in battle a few years later. With no documentation -"

"Zank you, Miss Granger," Fleur cut Hermione off politely and continued on herself. "Zis type of magic requirez much concentration, and vill drain much energy. Ve vill start viz ze fire elemental."

her wand was pointed at the podium. She closed her eyes and an aura of light appeared around her, the aura became increasingly apparent, and it shone a bright orange. She shouted loudly, "_Calere!_" All the light on her body centralized to her hand, and then through her wand a huge fireball burst out. It shot straight towards the podium, causing a huge, bright _BANG_. Harry and Hermione had to shield their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, only ashes were left of what used to be a big wooden podium. 

The class sat awestruck.

Fleur went on to teach them how to summon the fire elemental. As they started practicing, Harry found that this type of magic is wielded in a complete different manner than the usual magic they learn. They had to concentrate solely on thinking of a ball of flame flying through the air. Then they were to point their wands to the candle in front of them and shout "_Calere!_" to light it.

Harry concentrated his mind very hard on flame, and shouted loudly "_Calere!_" but nothing happened to his candle. On the contrary, Ron pointed casually and said "_Calere!_" and a huge burst erupted from Ron's wand and shot forward in all directions. Much less controlled then Fleur's flame, he sent the candle flying. It knocked Parvati forwards on her chair, who luckily avoided getting a large burn-mark on the back of her robes. Everyone else in the front row ducked under the desks as they felt the heat of the flame zoom past. 

Harry couldn't help but notice that Ron was panting after he cast the spell. _What a huge drain of energy._ Something was missing. For some reason, something didn't feel right. Harry suddenly realized that Malfoy and crew were in the room, but did not even make an attempt to tease Ron for the explosion he caused.

Harry turned and looked at the Slytherin table, surprised to find that Malfoy and his goons with serious looks on their faces, working very hard trying to learn the spell. There were some things that Harry never expected to change. And perhaps it didn't. They must be up to something.

"Another note, class, extreme emotions works very well when doing the fire spell." Fleur said as she used the water elemental spell to put out the fires in desks.

After the comment, Hermione made an effort to look calm, her eyes sold her out. She couldn't stop staring at Ron, and certainly wasn't concentrating on practicing the spell.

And so the day went on, more or less like DADA class, where Ron refused to sit with Hermione, and Hermione refused to admit that she had gone too far with the joke and apologize to Ron. As for Harry, he was sandwiched between his two friends, not quite sure who to comfort or what advice to give. If it was torture for Ron and Hermione, it was worse for Harry. Much worse.


End file.
